Many people use writing, marking or pointing instruments, or small hand tools (hereinafter referred to generally as “instruments”), in their trade, hobby or leisure times. These instruments may be in the shape of a carpenter's pencil, felt tip marker, regular pencil, golf pencil, “clicker” or stick pen, stylus or a pointer or screwdriver or awl. In many situations the users of these instruments are moving from place to place as they perform their task. One of the more frustrating and time wasting aspects of these tasks is when they drop or misplace their instrument. In addition, having to use many tools to accomplish a task is always a challenge.
One of the drawbacks to existing products is the significant impact of the environment in which the holder is used. The tether is subjected to wear and tear due to the abrasion when it rubs on tools, clothing, tool pouches, and even the body of the retractable reel.
What is needed is a different kind of tether material that has many different qualities, including being highly resistant to abrasion, tough to cut, able to be tied in a tight knot but not become easily tangled, and also that is very slippery. Finding such a unique material and incorporating it into a retractable reel will offer other benefits such as the ability to mark the tether for custom measurements, possible replacing a tape measure, reducing the need to carry multiple tools for tasks. Use of stronger materials can also lead to smaller retractors to achieve the same length.
The cable/tether must meet requirements or strength, abrasion resistance and an ability to withstand multiple windings. The vast majority of conventional retractors use typical materials such as nylon and polyester. They are relatively inexpensive, exhibit some abrasion resistance, can be wound and rewound many times, and are easy to work with in production. Where higher tinsel strength is required, a Kevlar material is utilized. One may conclude that a metal cable would be a good fit for this application, however, stranded cable will bind over time, and coated stranded cable becomes bulky and can also bend and bind.
When investigating other applications for tethers, one can find that a monofilament cord used for fishing can be made in various strengths and is generally very abrasion resistant. Unfortunately, this type of material is easy to tangle, has memory, does not bend tightly, and is not so easy to assemble into the needed retractors.